Seasoning for fajitas?

[sasha1]

One more. I've got chicken, got bell and poblano peppers, got onions. I'm thinking fajitas for dinner. What herbs/spices/seasoning do I need to make it taste like fajitas, rather than just grilled chicken and peppers? My intuitions for seasoning asian dishes are much better than mex or tex-mex.

[jenjunum]

As long as there's cumin it tastes like fajitas to me. Everything else is optional. I think some kind of citrus is good, even if you server the fajitas with wedges of limes to add at the end.

[valerie]

This epicurious recipe is good. I don't really use it as a recipe, per se, anymore, but rather I just throw in a bunch of the spices. It will give you an idea of the spices to be used.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...

[ChiliDude]

IMHO poblano chiles, which I use on occasion, are much too tame for me. Add a little ground cayenne to whatever sauce you create unless you cannot tolerate the heat from capsaicin.

Other people's posts have good suggestions of using ground cumin and ground coriander (or the leaves of cilantro).

BTW, the Mexican term, 'fajita', refers to the cut of meat used for the recipe which is skirt steak. Chicken was never in the picture until gringos started experimenting.

[sasha1]

Thanks for the tip. I use poblanos because they have a nice flavor and I've got 2 little ones to feed who don't tolerate it well.

[Fleur]

The marinades below sound delicious.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS the Fajita seasoning from PENZEY'S. It is extremely harsh, way too salty, and ruined the beautiful Flank Steak I used it on.

[kristyn]

Marinade:
1 orange, juiced
2 limes, juiced
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (use pickled if you don't have a fresh one handy)
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt

I use this to marinade the meat a bit and I also pour a little on everything when done cooking. Sometimes I don't have the jalapenos and/or cilantro and it still turns out pretty good.

[jennypenne]

I use a marinade that is very similar to the one above. From Tyler's Ultimate Fajitas:

1 orange, juiced
2 limes, juiced
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 chipolte chiles, in adobo sauce
3 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt

I use it with skirt steak and it turns out great. I'm sure it would work well with chicken too.

[sasha1]

Thanks for the ideas kristyn and jenny. I roughly followed these recipes, but had no oranges at home. So I put about 15 kumquats in the blender with the lime juice, oil, garlic, salt, and ground cumin. Very thick marinade but good - nice and sour. I couldn't get enough of it off the chicken to really get a sear on the meat, so it was kind of poached. Oh well. Actually, I found the veggies to be the best part and brought them to lunch today.